Saturday, May 19, 2012

Stop the Wall reported
on the ongoing massive solidarity inside Palestine and throughout
Palestine for the hunger strikers, including mass demonstrations in all
major cities. A day of action is scheduled for this Thursday, May 17,
the one month anniversary of the launch of the mass open hunger strike,
and a protest in Ramallah at Ofer Prison on Tuesday, May 15 as a Nakba
commemoration/prisoner solidarity action:

Every
day the support for the Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails
spreads, creating national unity in solidarity with their protest. As
groups across Palestine show their support, it becomes more apparent how
pivotal this strike is in terms of the wider struggle – it is becoming a
rallying point, a symbol of national cohesion reminiscent of the
Intifadas. Despite internal disputes, unity is being displayed by
Palestinians across the country in the face of Israeli occupation and
repression of all shows of support of the prisoners. Momentum is
building on the back of the “War of Empty Stomachs”, a war being raged
to gain the recognition of rights guaranteed by International Law, but
denied by the Israeli occupier.

Yesterday, more than 2000 Palestinian prisoners entered their 24th
day of hunger strike, with Thaer Halahla and Bilal Diab now the longest
ever hunger strikers on 74 days, while 6 other prisoners have refused
food for in excess of 50 and 60 days. These 8 prisoners are now at
serious risk of death, starving for their right to live.

Demonstrations took place yesterday across the West Bank, under the
slogan “Friday Anger: Victory for the Prisoners”, and were met with
violent suppression by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF). Tear gas,
rubber coated bullets, flash-bang grenades and foul smelling water mixed
with harmful chemicals, were used to disperse protesters, showing their
solidarity with their brothers and sisters in the prisons.

At the demonstration in the village of Aboud, Ramallah District, a
young protestor, Majid Salah al-Barghouti (18), after having been shot
in the eye had to be evacuated to hospital where his condition was
described as serious.

In the town of Beit Ummar, Hebron District, the IOF had taken to the
roofs in anticipation of the weekly demonstration after Friday prayers,
from whence they proceeded to bombard the crowd. Khaldun Jameel Masharqa
(20) was hit in the chest with a smoke bomb, and Hammad Ahmed Abu Maria
(21) was hit in the hand by another. This was followed by the closure
of the entrances of the town, preventing all from passing.

In Hebron thousands gathered to march the streets, ending up at a
tent in the city center set up to demonstrate solidarity with the
prisoners.

In Nablus there was a demonstration of around 3000 Palestinians
condemning the silence of the International Community concerning the
hunger strike.

At Ofer prison, a regular flashpoint with daily demonstrations, a
dozen young men were shot with rubber coated bullets, with many others
suffering temporary blindness and suffocation having been tear gassed.

In the areas occupied in 1948, more than 10,000 Palestinians
participated in a festival of solidarity with the prisoners in the town
of Kafr Kana, in the Galilee, holding up pictures of the prisoners and
Palestinian flags and slogans demanding liberation of prisoners from
Israeli jails. In Haifa, Palestinians closed their shops and displayed
banners saying “The shops are closed because our prisoners are in
danger.”

In Jerusalem, hundreds of Jerusalemites participated in a rally
including prisoners’ families as well as actors and representatives of
national institutions. The scene was filled with Palestinian flags,
pro-prisoner and anti-occupation slogans amid tight security imposed by
the occupation forces, with significant elements of the police, border
guards and special units in attendance. The protestors took to the
streets, rendezvousing with other activists before marching on the
headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Demonstrations have been taking place daily across the whole of the
occupied territories in solidarity with the prisoners, and this trend is
likely to continue as the struggle in the prisons goes on.

Break the Chains.info

is a news and discussion forum for supporters of political prisoners, prisoners of war, politicized social prisoners, and victims of police and state intimidation.

This blog is organized and updated autonomously of the disbanded Break the Chains Prisoner Support Network formerly based in Eugene, Oregon. While this online project shares several of the same concerns as the old Break the Chains collective, no formal organization exists behind the current web presence.

"I will never surrender my pride and dignity nor allow the system to 'cut my tongue' and I will always, without fear, speak out against these war crimes and crimes against humanity, no matter if I spend the rest of my life in a prison cage, and draw my last breath of air laying down in this steel bed surrounded by razor-wire fences and cages, and its prison policies that are designed to destroy one's humanity…."